Facial Exercise Frequency and Sore Facial Muscles
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free skin care · Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:36 pm

Hi,

I have done facial exercise from 2002, tried other programs, but have primarily used FlexEffect. I did the exercises 6 days a week for years and then 3 times a week for several more years. This past year was busy for me and I only did the exercises about once every two weeks.

However, practically my entire face is really sore when I only do the exercises about every two weeks. I never had soreness like this when I did the exercises more frequently. I should mention that when I started, it took quite a while, even years for some muscles, before I built my facial muscles up.

I attribute facial exercises to keeping the tone of my facial muscles strong. I plan to do them for as long as I am able. I do them quite strongly, I pull, tug, and strongly massage my skin Smile

My question is, is it better to do my exercises less frequently to get this intense muscle fatigue and soreness or should I go back to more frequent exercises and less muscle soreness?

Thx!

free skin care · Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:54 pm

Hydrogeogirl my advice would be to ask this question of the FE trainers. They are there to help you figure the program out and they would better understand why it is you're having the pain you're having. There might be Flexers here but if I had access to folks who actually work with the program and help guide others, I'd look to them first for direction. Unless someone else has had the exact same problem, you may not get correct direction. Sean and Claudia and Cathy used to post here regularly but I haven't seen them around. And I suspect they'd ask you to post your question on their platform. If you prefer, you could send them an email/private message. I reckon that'd be the safest way to avoid doing something wrong and at least understand what's going on.

I have never had pain from face exercises, but then I don't do the program you do so can't really speak on it. I think you'd do well to address this with the pros in that program.

free skin care · Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:40 am

hydrogeogirl ,

Same here, I do FE 2-3 times a week; every time I finish, I find my muscle sore and it takes me 30-60 minutes for "recovery".

That said, I prefer doing this way as you did (put more resistance on the muscles) because I find that it really firm & tighten my skin.

free skin care · Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:17 am

Hydrogeogirl is talking about muscle soreness or fatigue, which are totally different from pain--I think Nonie misunderstood what you are talking about.

Hydrogeogirl: Can you clarify whether this is muscle soreness like what summer2004 is describing (temporarily muscle burn or fatigue that comes immediately after doing an exercise but dissipates quickly) or is the day after soreness, like you would get from weight training with heavy weights?

As Nonie advises, it's best to talk to a trainer.

But let me insert my two cents on one particular point: By doing the exercises once every two weeks, even if you are maintaining your muscle mass, you are missing out on some of the circulation and lymph stimulating benefits. For that reason, I generally prefer to exercise a muscle 1-2x a week (at least), even if that means do only a few reps and minimal resistance.

Best wishes Smile

free skin care · Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:14 pm

cm5597, you are correct, I do not feel pain when I do the FE. Instead, the next day, my facial muscles are very sore, because of my workout. I love how it feels, when my entire face and neck is sore and I have taken to holding out a little while before doing the exercises so that my muscles will feel sore. The soreness occurs the following day and may last 24 hours.

I need to do a little research on muscle building and I will also post my question at some point on the FE boards.

Also, cm5597, yes you are correct, the daily or more frequent exercises are terrific for lymph and circulation in general. A contracted muscle increases circulation 10 times, moving wastes out and oxygen and nutrients in. As a result, my skin looks fantastic after FE.

I do want to do the exercises more frequently but also have enjoyed the intense soreness that I feel. I taught facial exercises for about 5 years and when 20 year olds attended, they told me that their whole face would be so sore the next day. The more mature folks and myself, did not have that kind of soreness, because our muscles had atrophied before starting facial exercises. I think that my facial muscles must be closer to the strength of the 20 year olds rather than 53 year olds. Of course, I look older, but I do get many compliments and exclamations about not looking my age. I attribute that to many things, FE and skin rejuvenation being among them.

Anyways, still curious about muscle building and time.

Thanks! HGG

free skin care · Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:26 pm

hydrogeogirl wrote:

Also, cm5597, yes you are correct, the daily or more frequent exercises are terrific for lymph and circulation in general. A contracted muscle increases circulation 10 times, moving wastes out and oxygen and nutrients in. As a result, my skin looks fantastic after FE.

I do want to do the exercises more frequently but also have enjoyed the intense soreness that I feel.

What I do is for the muscles of my face I want to build more, I train them 2-3x a week doing 2-4 sets in a bodybuilding style. IMHO, this gives me the best of all worlds: (a) frequent enough training, (b) but still longer rest periods for recovery, and (c) body-building-like training with high weight, higher sets, and rotating schedule (not training every day). The FE people don't promote this per se, but I like it better than training every muscle every day and resting 2 days a week. I feel that it is more inline with a bodybuilding-like approach, than training every muscle every day. This will sometimes give me that bodybuilder's soreness that you mention, but that is not my goal. And of course, for those muscles that are in maintenance (that I only want to tone, not build), I train 1-2x week with 1-2x sets at lighter weight. Just my own personal preference.

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